Shielded flexible gun mount and ammunition container therefor



Dec. 12, 1939. I J FMHABERUN I 2,182,868

SHIELDED FLEXIBLE GUN MOUNT AND AMMUNITION CONTAINER THEREFOR Filed Jan.11, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Zinmmtor Dec. 12, 1939. F HA ERUN 2,182,868

SHIELDED FLEXIBLE GUN MOUNT AND AMMUNITION CONTAINER THEREFOR Filed Jan.11, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 lnventor Ba John be'rlin attorney PatentedDec. 12, 1939 SHIELDED GUN MOUNT AND AMIVIUNITION CONTAINER- THEREFORJohn F. Haberlin, Seattle, -Wash., assignor to Boeing Aircraft Company,Seattle, Wash, a corporation of Washington Application January 11, 1931,Serial No. 119,905 10 Claims. (01. 89-375) My present invention relatesin general to flexibly mounted guns, normally for use on air-- planes,in which a machine gun is supported on a mount which is enclosed withinan enclosure, usually spherical in shape. Such mounts are disclosed inthe patent to John C. Sanders, No. 2,113,143. Thev gun is so mountedthat it may move with and with respect'to the enclosure, hence is saidvtobe flexibly mounted. Such a mount is so constructed that guns ofdifferent caliber, as .30 caliber and .50 caliber, may be supported fromthe same mount and partly within the same enclosure. Such guns arefrequently mounted in a nose piece or turret which is rotatable, the gunmount being eccentric to the turrets axis of rotation, so that if theturret is mounted as a rotatable nose piece or tail piece upon thefuselage of the plane a hemisphere or more of fire can be covered.

In such gun mounts the shield or spherica enclosure serves to protectthe gun and the gunner from the effect of wind pressure created by thehigh speed of the airplane in flight, and thus permits the gun to bemore readily manipulated and more accurately directed, but in suchmounts the central part of the gun, at least, is enclosed within themount, and within this central part are the feeding and dischargeapertures. The ammunition is fed to such guns in the form of belts oflinked-together cartridges, and must be fed substantially in the planeof the guns feeding opening; the cases are discharged downwardly only ashort distance rearwardly of the feeding aperture of the gun, and thelinks are discharged on the opposite side of the gun from the feedingaperture, yet all these apertures of the gun are enclosed, in such amount, within the spherical enclosure. Asa result it is necessary tosupport-an ammunition container within the enclosure adjacentthe'feeding opening, and because it is not feasible to discharge thecases and links from the gun freely into the interior of the sphericalenclosure, and because it is not possible to discharge them into a chuteand thence overboard, owing to the flexible mounting of the enclosure,it is necessary to support within the enclosure a receiver for the casesand links.

It has been proposed heretofore to combine the ammunition container intoone unit with the case and link receiver (see my Patent No. 2,149,522,issued March 7, 1939), but as then proposed the combined unit wasawkward in shape, could not readily be stacked nor stored in the crampedspace adjacent a gunners station in an airplane, was not readilyattachable in operative position relative to the gun, and because of themethod of supporting it inoperative position, it required certainchanges in the structure of the spherical enclosure which in at leastsome positions thereof would detract from its efficiency.

It is, therefor v an object of the present invention to provide a gunmount, an enclosure, and as a combined unit an ammunition container andcase and link receiver, so formed relatively to each other as to bestcooperate, to the ends that (1) the enclosure will be efllcient insubstantially all positions it may assume in use; (2) the ammunitioncontainer will be of ample capacity as will also the case and linkreceiver; (3) it will be of such shape and size, and so mounted formovement into and from operative position that it can be readily movedinto and from such operative position, with respect to the gun; (4) allthe space within the enclosure at one side of and beneath the gun willbe available for occupation by the combined units; and (5) thesecombined units may be supplied in a form wherein they can be stacked oneon another on the floor of the gunners station, and thus will be readilyavailable and in position for easy application to the gun, and when theammunition is used up they can be removed and stacked readily withoutwaste of time, so that thus stacked they will not be liable to be thrownabout within the interior of the airplane, to the possible injury of thegunner, bomber or other personnel, or damage to the aircraft orinstruments carried thereby.

It is a further object to provide such a com-' bined unit which isadaptable to use with differ- I ent sizes of ammunition, and a gun mountwhich will take either ammunition and either size gun and will properlybring the ammunition container and case and link receiver into properposition with respect to either size gun which may be mounted thereon.Thus a .30 caliber gun or a .50 caliber gun may be employed at will, andthe combined unit may be adapted to either size and to proper registrywith a gun of either size mounted upon the gun mount.

My invention comprises the novel parts, and the novel combination andarrangement thereof, as shown in the accompanying drawings, and as willbe hereinafter more particularly described in the specification anddefined by the claims which terminate the same.

In the accompanying drawings 1 have shown my invention embodied in aform which is at present preferred by me, it being understood thatvariations may be made in the form, character and relative arrangementof the parts, all within the scope of my invention as defined by'theclaims.

Figure 1 is in general an axial section through the nose or tall portionof an airplane fuselage,

illustrating the invention complete and assembled in operative positiontherein. Figure 2 is a rear elevation of the gun mount and certainassociated parts,.and of the combinecl unit in operative position withrelation to the gun.

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the combined unit and two cooperatingchute elements,

disposed in operative relationship to each other.

Figure 4 is a perspective view of a detail shcwing the manner ofsupporting the combined unit from the gun mount element.

The fuselage 9 of the airplane'may terminate, usually at its front endbut in some structures at its tail end, in a large aperture lying in aplane normal to the longitudinal axis of the fuselage, and closed by arotative, usually transparent turret 90, the turret being supported froma circular track 9| at the end of the fuselage structure by means such,as the rollers 92, so that the turret may rotate about an axiscoinciding with a longitudinal axis of the fuselage. A gun 8 issupported in such a turret for operation by a gunner within thefuselage, and for the protection of this gunner from the air blast,particularly in nose guns, the .gun is ordinarily mounted within aspherical enclosure 1 supported eccentrically of the axis'of rotation ofthe turret 90, and carried upon the turret, partly protruding therefrom,for rocking movement about a transverse axis 10 for elevation anddepression of the gun. The gun is likewise mounted for rocking movementabout an axis 12 so that it may be traversed along a slot ll. For thepurpose of maintaining the gun upright whether the spherical shell I beabove or below or at one side or the other of the slot H, and its breechend protruding rearwardly through an opening left at the rear end of thesphere. The ammunition unit must be moved into position from the breechend. Therefore, in order to support the gun, and to leave space forconvenient manipulation of the ammunition unit, a suitable gun mountmust be supported within and extending across the sphere 1, but leavingthe entire space within the sphere as free as possible fromobstructions. To this end I provide a bow 60 which extends from the ring13 just within the surface of the sphere l and its framing, and securedto the front end of this bow t0 and extending substantially parallel tothe barrel of the gun which isto be supported is the gun mount 6, whichpreferably consists of an arm, illustrated as formed from a tube whichis rigidly supported from the bow Bl, at the forward periphery of thesphere and adiacent'the slot, and which extends thence rearwardlytowards the rear opening of the sphere, parallel to the sup- Ported gun.For better stability and for other Purposes it may be preferable toemploy two such tubes, somewhat spaced apart but connected to each otheror otherwise cooperating to support the gun, but in any event locatedclose beneath and parallel to the gun, and constituting in effect asingle gun mount arm 8 securely mounted upon the how 60. The gun iscarried by bolts BI and. extending upwardly to the trunnions of the gun,and in turn supported upon bridge-like bars 88 which span the spacebetween the tubes of the arm 6. It will be observed that these tubesandthe bridge members 63 are the o y e ements pmreceiving and guidingthe discharged cases.

greases Jecting substantially within the interior of the sphere l, andthese tubes are arranged/as. noted above, substantially parallel to theaxis of and closely adjacent to the gun 8.

The term rear, as hereir'rused, means the end of the sphere or gunadjacent the breech of the latter. Normally such a gun would'fireforwardly, and the breech end would be in fact the rear end, but if thegun is supported at the tail, firing to the rear, the so-called rear endwill be actually the forward end. Again, if the gun is mountedalong theside of the fuselage, the "rear end of the gun will be towards the axis.of the fuselage.

The opening at the rear end of the sphere need only be large enough forproper sighting, for insertion and removal of the combined ammunitioncontainer and case and link receiver,

undesirable to leave any gap between its edge,

outside of the turret 90, and the turret itself, it must be rememberedthat the sphere, right side up in all rotated positions, as it must befor proper feeding of ammunition and gravity clearing of dischargedcases and links, may at times be below the longitudinal axis of theturret, and any greater angle of opening below the gun would at suchtimes, be very objectionable, allowing access of air within the turret.

The feeding aperture of the gun, it will be ob served, is within thesphere 1', as is also the case discharge aperture, though somewhatrearwardly' of the feeding aperture, and the link discharge aperturewhich is opposite the feeding aperture.

It is therefor All are within the enclosure. necessary to support anammunition container within the sphere and also a receiver for thedischarged cases and links. Since such a container should be adaptableto different sizes of ammunition, and since it should be so shaped as tobe readily stacked, and so arranged that it can be applied to the gunand removed from it, when the ammunition is exhausted, with the minimum'of dimculty and time, it is preferred to form the ammunition containerand the case and link receiver into one combined unit. Such a unit isshown in Figure 3, and there is also shown'in this figure the chute forreceiving and guiding the discharged links-and the chute 8| for Theremainder of Figure 3 comprises the approxi-. mately crescent-shapedcombined unit, generally represented by the numeral I. A partition I0divides this combined unit into a substantially upright ammunitioncompartment II, and a substantially horizontal receiver compartment II.The compartment H has substantially parallel front and rear walls, forbetween two such walls the ammunition must be closely confined, so thatit will be fed in proper alignment to the gun,

be employed, I prefer that the rear wall I4 of- I provide a guide meanssuch as the I-shaped or the ammunition compartment ll be spacedrearwardly from the front wall sufficiently to take the .50 caliberammunition and somewhat more, and that there be a false rear wall 3supported and guided at 3| within the compartment for movement forwardlyand rearwardly between two definite positions. In the forward positionit approaches closest to the forward wall of the compartment, and thecompartment is then adapted for the feeding of .30 caliber ammunition.When the false wall 3 is in its rearward position the compartment isadapted to feed .50 caliber ammunition.

Because of limitations of space within the sphere 7, unless thehorizontal compartment I2 is made a little longer than the compartment lI, it is likely to have too little room to contain all the cases andlinks discharged from the compartment ll. Its rear wall I6 is thereforespaced somewhat rearwardly of the wall It, but still parallel to thefront wall of the combined unit which defines a plane surface, as seenin Figure 1. This would render it a little difficult to stack thecombined units, but there may be provided a handle I1 fixed on the wallit and projecting rearwardly to the plane of the wall IE, or some,similar spacer member may be employed. Similarly a handle l8 may beprovided in the wall l6, but the wall is indented to receive thishandle, as indicated at l9, and the handle may be swung outwardly fromthis indentation when it is to be used, lying within the indentationwhen the units are to be stacked, as indicated at the right in Figure 1.

While a combined ammunition container and case and link receiver wasdisclosed in my copending application, referred to above, it was foundvery difficult to engage the heavy box with a support fixed on the gun,and well within the interior of the sphere l; the latter was so flexiblymounted that the difficulty arising from the cramped quarters and heavyweight was increased greatly by the necessary flexibility. It was foundto be essential that some means be provided, engageable while the box isoutside the sphere, to properly guide the combined unit into operativeposition relative to the gun, and to this end I T-shaped guide or guides2, secured upon the bottom of the arm 6, with each of which isengageable a channel shaped guide 20 secured upon an upper edge of thecombined unit. The guide 2 projects through the opening at the rear ofthe sphere l sufliciently to permit engagement of the complemental guide20 without difliculty, and when thus engaged the combined unit is surelyguided through the opening at the rear of the sphere and into operativeposition with relation to the gun and its apertures, yet may be madesufliciently large as to occupy all the available space, taking intoaccount the aperture through which it must pass. No excess space need beleft for convenience of manipulation of the box in mounting it, hencethe maximum of box capacity is obtained with a minimum size of rearopening in the shell.

The combined unit thus made up may be prepared in readiness with theammunition compartment ll filled, and a number of such units may bestacked on the floor 99 adjacent the gunners station, as seen inFigure 1. One of them is slid into position along the guide 2 and whenthe gun is fired the cases and links discharged will fall through thechutes 8| and 80, respectively, which are fixed with respect to the gun,

into the compartment II, which has an opening l5 directed upwardly forregistry with the chute 80, and a similar opening directed upwardly forregistry with the chute 8i. When all the ammunition has been dischargedfrom the compartment II it is all or substantially all in thecompartment I2, and the combined unit can be removed by sliding itrearwardly, a new unit can be taken from the stack and applied byengaging its guides 20 with the guides 2, whereupon it slidesautomatically into operative position with respect to the gun, and theold unit may conveniently be stacked in another place on the floor 99,stakes 98 or similar means being provided to hold the units in properlystacked position, and when they can be thus easily stacked, it isunlikely that they will be dropped on the floorupon an aircraftstructure, and an enclosing and supporting shield for the gun open atits rear side, said shield being flexibly mounted upon the aircraft,means within and'supported from the shield for thus supporting a gun,with its muzzle protruding from the front of the shield, said meansincluding an arm extending rearwardly from the front of the shieldtowards its open rear side, whereon the gun'is supported, a combined andunitary ammunition container and case and linkreceiver unit, and meanscarried by said arm supporting and guiding the latter, when insertedthrough the open rear end of the shield, for movement of the unit intooperative position relative to the gun, the unit having such shape, andthe arm and shield being so disposed as to 5 avoid interference duringsuch movement into shield for thus supporting a gun, with itsmuzzleprotruding from the front of the shield and its breech protrudingthrough the shield's rear opening, thus to aim the gun, said meansincluding an arm extending rearwardly from the front of the shieldtowards its open rear side, whereon the gun is supported, a combined andunitary ammunition container and case and link receiver unit, and meansthereon engageable with said arm for rectilinear sliding movement of theunit, inserted through the open rear end of the shield, along the arminto operative position relative to the gun, the unit having such shape,and the arm and shield being so disposed as to avoid interference duringsuch movement into and from operative position. v

3. In combination with an enclosure open at its rear end for theprotrusion of the breech end of a gun, two spaced tubes supported withinsaid enclosure and extending directly rearward from its front portion tosuch opening, to leave a clear space beneath them, within the enclosure,said tubes being adapted for the support of a gun, with its feeding anddischarging openings the gun, parallel guide rails on the two tubes, andcomplemental guide means 'on the combined container and receiver,cooperating with the guide rails to guide the combined container andreceiv'er throughthe opening inthe enclosure, and to and from operativeposition with the gun, the

combined container and receiver being shaped to,

pass through the opening in the enclosure .when thus guided, and fordisposition within the clear space beneath the tubes, when in operativeposition. 7

4. A combined ammunition container and case and link receiver for usewithin an enclosure as described, of generally crescent shape, atransverse partition dividing the same into two compartments, onegenerally upright compartment to contain live ammunition linked inbelts, and the other generally horizontal compartment for receivingdischarged cases and links, said upright compartment terminating at itsupper end in a laterally directed feed aperture, and the horizontalcompartment having an appropriate opening in its upper surface forentrance of discharged cases and links, and the front and rear elementsof the combined container and receiver defining two planes which aregenerally parallel, whereby such units may be stacked one on another inreadiness for use.

5. A combined ammunition container and case and link receiver for usewithin an enclosure as described, of generally crescent shape, atransverse partition dividing the same into two compartments, onegenerally upright compartment to contain live ammunition linked inbelts, and the other generally horizontal compartment for receivingdischarged cases and links, said upright compartment terminating at itsupper end in a laterally directed feed aperture, and the horizontalcompartment having an appropriate opening in its upper surface forentrance of discharged cases and links, and the front and rear surfacesof the combined container and receiver being generally parallel, wherebysuch units may be stacked one on another in readiness for use,

and guide means disposed on the top of the horizontal compartment,extending fore and aft, whereby the unit may be slid into and fromoperative position relative to a gun, when said guide means are engagedwith complemental guide means.

6. A combined almnunition container and case and link receiver for usewithin an enclosure as described, of generally crescent shape, atransverse partition dividing the-same into two compartments, agenerally upright compartment to contain live ammunition in belts, and agenerally horizontal compartment to receive discharged cases and links,said upright compartment having front and rear walls spaced apart toconfine closely the live cartridges, and terminating at its upper end ina laterally directed feed aperture, and the horizontal compartmenthaving a front 7. A combined ammunition container and case and linkreceiver comprising a box partitioned to define two compartments, one tocontain live ammunition in belts, and the other to receive dischargedcasesand links, and each compartment having an appropriate opening forpassage of the same, the receiver compartment being of a volume to holdthe discharged cases and links originally contained in the containercompartment, whether of small or large caliber, and a vertical wall inthe container compartment shiftable with relation to an opposite wallthereof, to closely confine the belts of ammunition, whether of small orlarge caliber.

8. A container for linked or belt ammunition for use with a machine gun,comprising a box having an outlet in a side, and having a front wall anda rear wall, a false wall within the box parallel to and spaced from oneof the aforesaid walls a distance substantially equal to the length ofthe cartridges, and means to adjust the spacing of the false wallrelative to the parallel wall, to accommodate and to closely confine abelt of cartridges of a different length.

9. In combination with an enclosure open atits rear end for theprotrusion of the breech end of a gun, an arm supported within saidenclosure and extending directly rearward from its front portion to suchopening, to leave ;a clear space beneath said arm, withinthe'en'closure, means carried by said arm to support a gun with itsfeeding and discharging openings in definite positions inside theenclosure, a combined and unitary ammunition container and case and linkreceiver disposed, when in operative position, within the enclosure andadjacent the respective openings of the gun, parallel guide rails onsaid arm, and complemental guide means on the combined container andreceiver, formed for cooperation with the guide rails to guide thecombined container and receiver through the opening in the enclosure,and to and from operative position with respect to the gun, the combinedcontainer and receiver being shaped to pass through the opening in theenclosure when thus guided, and

for disposition within the clear space beneath the arm, when inoperative position.

10. In combination with an enclosure open at its rear end for theprotrusion of the breech end of a gun, an arm supported within saidenclosure and extending directly rearward from its front portion to suchopening, to leave a clear space beneath said arm, within the enclosure,means carried by said arm to support a gun with its feeding anddischarging openings in definite positions inside the enclosure, acontainer unit disposed, when in operative position, within theenclosure and in communication with certain openings of the gun, guidemeans extending lengthwise of and-carried by the arm, and complementallyformed guide means on the container unit cooperating with thearm-carried guide means to guide and support the container unit throughthe opening in the enclosure, and to and from operative position withrespect to the gun, the container unit being shaped to pass through theopening in the enclosure when thus guided, and

arm, when in operative position.

JOHN F. HABERLIN.

